A man who raped and sexually assaulted a schoolgirl in Nottinghamshire has been jailed – thanks to damning digital and forensic evidence recovered by detectives.
Lee Whalley, now aged 62, first came to police attention in 2017 when his victim – by that time an adult – came forward to report abuse dating back several years.
Whalley was arrested by Nottinghamshire Police and repeatedly denied having any sexual contact with the girl.
Detectives later recovered an incriminating series of backed-up mobile phone messages from his computer.
The messages – sent when the victim was an adult – referenced sexual activity between the two and exposed his previous lies to officers.
Also recovered from his home were several items of clothing containing his victim’s DNA.
He later claimed to have had an entirely consensual sexual relationship with the girl after she had turned 16.
The case reached trial last month when Whalley was found guilty by a jury of two counts of raping a girl under the age of 13, four counts of sexual assault by touching, two counts of assault by penetration, and eight counts of sexual activity with a child.
All of the offences happened in Nottinghamshire.
Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday (1 October), Whalley, formerly of Mansfield, was jailed for 21 years.
He was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order which will tightly restrict his activities when he is released from prison.
Detective Sergeant Lloyd Goucher, of Nottinghamshire Police, said:
“Like many victims of childhood sexual assault, the woman at the heart of this case was reluctant to come forward and tell us about what had happened to her all those years before.
“Unsurprisingly, this abuse has already had profound impact on her life and she was concerned that a criminal trial would add to the trauma she had already suffered.
“It is thanks, then, to her courage and determination that we were able to build such a compelling case against her abuser, and to expose his initial account for the fiction it was.
“Whalley groomed and sexually assaulted her over a number of years and will now spend much of the rest of his life in prison.
“As this case shows we will always follow the evidence in front of us as we work to get victims the justice they deserve.”
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